Hello, this is my story. I hope you enjoy. And please feel more than free to point out anything you disagree with or dislike. Synopsis: It's a VRMMORPG. It's about a guy leveling up and the various quests and people he will have to go through in order to do it. There will be guilds and PKers and Lifeskillers. There won't be any cheat skills or skills only a certain amount of special people will have. And I'm not going to do something like the MC needs money from the game in order to pay off loan sharks or his grandmother's hospital bills. There will be stakes, I swear. But nothing so ever present. I might have him going to some IRL gaming events. Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, VRMMORPG, Romance, Mystery, Drama Table of Contents Prologue Chapter 1: Character Creation & First Steps Chapter 2: Tutorial Mission Part 1 Chapter 3: Boars, Spells and Skills. And tutorial Mission Part 2
Prologue: Olympus Online, a virtual reality massively multiplayer role playing game; I know, it's a mouthful. In short it's a video game where you can plug yourself into a game world that looks and feels as if you were really there. Today is the day one release of the game. I can’t remember how many times I’ve watched the trailers and developer interviews; or how much I’ve looked for the tiniest hints of news on their website and twitter. I’ve been looking forward to this game, badly. If I were to describe myself in a single word it would be second-rate. In other games I could only get into the second best rankings. I don’t mean being the second best person at the game. Nothing even close to that good. I mean ranks that are distributed between groups of players in tiers of bronze, silver, gold, platinum, diamond. Diamond was the top 5%. They were either pros or people who spent way too much time on the game, or geniuses who could learn shit in a fraction of the time it took for normal people. Though I wasn’t diamond, I was platinum for being the type that spent way too much time on the game. As for why I could never get to the top, I’m not completely sure. It’s not that I didn’t know what reason, but that there were too many possible answers. I didn’t communicate well with others? I wasn’t driven enough? Or perhaps I was just unequivocally not good enough? Really, I didn’t care about being the best. Yeah, yeah, I know everyone says they don’t care when they actually do, but – okay, maybe some small part of me did want to be the best. But, I mean, well, you know, the chances of it are just way too low. Of course I wanted to be great, but only for an instant, before I actually thought about it. In the end I said to myself as long as I’m having fun, I’m having fun. Now back to the game. This is launch day and a Wednesday, so not that many people will be on. I hate seeing seas of faces and it’s easier to talk to the NPCs when there aren’t so many people in the way. Not to mention the smug satisfaction of being ahead of other people. Let’s see, this is the first ever VRMMORPG of its kind, so I’m not really sure how it works. You didn't only buy the game, but you bought the whole kit it came with. A bunch of wires and a helmet. You better hope you had a PC that was tough enough for this thing. I ate and went to the bathroom so I could maximize my play time. Of course I wouldn't play too long. I'm not stupid, or at least I don't think I am. I laid in my bed and placed the helmet over my head. A robotic voice of a lady said, “Scanning Irises for identification. Recognized. Initializing,” as overlays and loading screens interfaced. “Fuck,” was the only thing I could say as the game booted. Why does it always have to start with an all white screen? Character creation, huh. Now then, what class to pick?
Wasn't it his first time playing vrmmorpg? Where does the experience of white screens come from to make him annoyed?
Hmm I wonder why I suddenly thought of LMS the moment I read your opening description... About grandmother's hospital bills and the aggressive loan sharks. No offense dude I hope you can create a wonderful story keep up the good work!
I said that because of my other experiences with video games doing that. I think the MC played other games as well that did this, with a monitor that is.
No offense taken. I didn't read the web novel version of it, but I loved the first 50 chapters of the manhwa. I didn't think that those aspects were particularly bad, but as a reader I wasn't invested in it as a looming threat. I am going to get on reading the web novel, since it feels like a must read for the genre.
I played a lot of games too but for me the black screen seems to appear more often. Imo having a bunch of unskippable logos appear one after another is more relatable and annoying
Thanks for the feedback. I agree that it is probably more relatable, but I think it's annoying in a different way. If I were to change it to that, I think the tone would shift from surprised to inconvenienced, and it's not as memorable or striking then. I think I'll keep it the way it is unless a person or two agrees with you. I hope my explanation was sufficient.
I wasn't telling you to change the story. I was sharing my opinion :^) Btw the tone already appears as inconvenienced because of the "Fuck" at the beginning of that sentence. Add the use of "always" to that word and it creates an impression that MC is frustrated or disappointed about white screens instead of being surprised.
I'm not sure if my writing was insufficient or if you're misunderstanding or if it's both, so I'll explain. I usually most notice the white screen when I start up a game and when the room is dark, so I don't remember it that well, but I do remember how annoying it can be at times. It's a in between of how I should know that it's coming, but don't, causing my eyes to become blinded for a bit before they readjust and recall how annoying it is when that happens.
It is technically an annoyance, but I think the character was too surprised by it for him to think of it as such.
Chapter 1: Character Creation & First Steps The three classes available were Warrior, Ranger, and Mage. Each had a summary: warriors are simple and direct specializing in close-range, stringing together combos, short crowd control, and counters. They also have high health, armor, and increased regeneration capabilities. Rangers are quick and precise specializing in short bursts of damage, stealth, poison, and mobility. Mages are slow moving, complicated and are without any real specializations. They have the longest cast times and most powerful spells. And because of their wide array of spells they are generally considered the most versatile class. Each class has a handful of sub-classes unlocked at later levels and I hear the developers are planning to implement more as the game grows. All of them seemed as if they would be a lot of fun. A peerless warrior who stands above a mountain of bodies. An invisible ranger who attacks from places none know, but surely deals the finishing blow. An Archmage that can change the tides of battle through healing near-death allies or by unleashing an onslaught of meteors on top of the would-be enemies. I wish there was a class that let you play as all classes. I know how important the jobs tanking and supporting are, but there is something so alluring about being a mysterious assassin, and so I picked ranger. Now for the name. My choices are either my real name, a high fantasy name, or something dumb I come up with in the moment. My real name sounds kind of boring, a high fantasy name wouldn’t feel as if it were my own, and I always regret names I put no thought into, since I have to stare at it all the time, and somehow, I feel as if it stares back at me in contempt. I’m sorry for creating you without thought! Now I know what a deadbeat dad feels like. Okay, probably not. But maybe just a little? Oh, yeah, my name. Hmmm... Well, my last name means snake and they are kind of like nature’s assassins, so I’ll go with with the name Snake. That should do it. “Finish.” “Are you sure?” “Yes.” “Welcome to Olympus Online.” My field of view shifted from the character creation screen to the plaza of a bustling city. Buildings were of brick or mud wall with wood frames and had roofs of either tile or hay. In the center there was a stone fountain; it housed no beautifully detailed sculpture at its center and instead had a row of stone dogs surrounding its base, peeking out from under the edge of the fountain as if they were they were silent protectors, always ready and watching for disturbances. The most noticeable landmark was the cathedral which dwarfed the buildings it neighbored by three or four times the size. It had stained glass windows that didn't look as impressive from the outside, since the sunlight wasn't hitting it exactly right and a Gothic architecture from its pointed pillars and arches that accentuated the majesty of the entrance and windows. I was happy to see wooden signs that hung over building since they had familiar logos of a sword and shield, diamonds, and a beer mug and chicken leg. Packed against buildings were a wide assortment of folk: Vendors who were eagerly peddling their products; Performers who were singing and playing instruments similar to flutes and lutes; Dancers who seemed to at times glide through the air; A magician who at first looked to be an apprentice of his craft, but then he impressed by playing his failures into his act turning it into a sort of comedy; and a gambling stall where either bored or lucky feeling players would venture to try their hands at. The scenery and sounds were pretty stimulating and it took me a minute or two to adjust. At the moment I was lost and wasn't sure where I was supposed to go. On default the world map for the game is blank except for the area surrounding the player, so you’ll have to actually explore the world to have it fill in and get any idea where you are in relation to everything else. But you can also buy a map from NPCs or players. The players can name their price and their maps show traps and things like rich metal veins where NPC maps don’t, so people generally buy from them. Hopefully the cartographers who draw those maps won’t sell them for too much. I currently don't have a single copper yet, so I won’t be doing that soon. The first thing I need to do is the starting quest. I looked in my bag (inventory) and took out the map. The game had an adaptive HUD system; that meant it only showed information when it was relevant, like how it would only show your health when in a battle, or if you start losing health from a trap. And there wasn't a minimap, so you had to take out your map and look at it directly. If you were just looking around and not actually doing anything there would be no HUD. On the map there seems to be a yellow exclamation mark; that must be where the quest is. Once I got to where the marker was I didn’t see an NPC, instead there was was a notice board that had dozens of fliers on it. I was completely lost as to which to pick and in the midst of reading one of the fliers a heads up display of the notice board appeared in my vision. They were all in alphabetical order. I turned my head away from the board and the display disappeared. I turned back and it reappeared. "Hehehe." I’m not ashamed to say I flung my head back and forth a couple times for the fun of it. Now then, let’s reorder these by level. Ah, a level one quest; that’s the one for me!
If it was a chinese mmorpg, a swarm of newbies would be slaying innocent rabbits with a ratio of 15 to 1 from the start. x) Btw, what is his nickname? You described his thought process in detail but skipped over the nickname or even his name. Not cool.
Chapter 2: Tutorial Mission Part 1 The level one quest at the beginning is designed to help new players get a feel for the movement and combat in the game; a sort of tutorial. Escort through Aridon Forest: Requesting hired help from any able bodied individuals with confidence in their arms. The prerequisite for completion is to defend a cargo wagon’s transport from Hyperion City to Eaglethorn village through Aridon forest. We will be situated at the west gate. We leave at 9 am or earlier depending on the headcount. The pay will be 5 silver and given out once or if we reach the checkpoint. When I got there they were doing a role call. I managed to to get there on time and went to the end of the line of people. Later... The cargo wagon has been going for around 10 minutes. We’re currently on a forest trail. There were tall lush bushes off to the sides and looming trees; their branches shrouded much of the sunlight. Any gusts of wind strong enough to stir the leaves above were more noticeable as glints of light would pierce its way through the makeshift roof. I’m walking in the farther back of the group. There were 5 players other than me: 2 mages, 2 warriors, and a ranger. They looked restless, heads darting left to right. I can’t blame them. I too was itching for the chance to fight some monsters. I know how bloodthirsty that makes me sound, but there’s simply something exhilarating about action; it makes my heart beat out of my chest. Finally it happened. A rustling of the bushes, a rumbling of the ground. To my surprise it wasn’t a group of monsters but bandits who were advancing on us. I’m not sure how I feel about killing humanesque mobs. I saw six in total and heard more flanking. Two were in trees bows aimed on us threateningly and the other four were in front of the cargo wagon. The one who looked to be the leader walked up and said, “Give us all of your valuables and a portion of whatever it is there you’re transporting. We’ll let you leave alive with that.” One of the warrior players stepped forward and responded, “Screw that! We won’t let you take this man’s hard earned money that he probably needs to feed his family!” To this the slightly old and overweight merchant looked on the warrior with respect. He probably thought something along the lines of: O how kind and considerate this warrior is. To this a mage hesitatingly pointed out, “Also we kind of don’t have any money. And we were kind of relying on the merchant for our pay.” The merchant’s beaming smile furrowed into a frown as if he had realized the way of the world all over again. The bandits drew their weapons and so did we. During character creation I was given a handful of weapons to choose from. I had a pair of daggers; not quite long enough to be shortswords and not quite short enough to be knives. And so the battle began. The warrior, like any good warrior, rushed headfirst into battle. The mages began chanting their spells. The ranger dived into a bush. I jumped up onto the cargo wagon and sprang off of it up to a nearby tree branch; I was going for one of the archers. He was a couple of meters above and away from me. Noticing my approach he aimed his bow at me. As he let lose an arrow I stepped off the branch I was standing on, evading the arrow. I didn’t fall off of the branch since I grabbed it with my hands at the last second. I swung my legs forward and back. With enough momentum I released the branch and grabbed onto another and then another and so on until I made it to the archer’s branch. Instead of trying to shoot me or stepping on my fingers while I was hoisting myself up, he drew his short sword and stepped back closer to the trunk. Immediately after getting my footing on the wider than average branch I readied my dual daggers. I edged closer and in doing so we both became noticeably more tense. In the midst of my movement the bandit abruptly lunged his sword at me. I deflected with my left dagger and stepped forward slashing at his neck with my right dagger. Absorbing my blow the bandit lost his balance and plummeted to the ground. I looked down and saw how the bandit laid lifeless over a larger than average tree root. I probably gained some exp, but now wasn't the time to check. I slid down the tree trunk, went to the dead bandit, took his bow and slung the quiver over my back. Shortly after, the bandit’s body disappeared as the very molecules that made him up disintegrated, dispersed, and evaporated as light particles. Archery shouldn’t be too difficult. I looked for and found the other archer in the trees; luckily he was focused on another part of the skirmish.
Chapter 3: Boars, Spells and Skills. And Tutorial Mission Part 2 Before I could attempt my first shot a thundering realization hit me. What I thought earlier as bandits intending to flank us were not bandits. It was something far, far worse. When it was farther away I mistook it for being closer because of its, now apparent to me, excruciating volume. The sound became louder and more detailed now that they grew closer; I could make out what it was, exactly. It was a stampede of countless gallops that I dared not look back on out of sheer terror. I sprinted to and jumped atop the cargo wagon. It was a cart filled with tall crates covered by a tarp with ropes strapped across it to keep it secure. The bandits and players, who were focused on dueling the enemy in front still hadn’t noticed. I shouted, “Stampede! Get out of the way!” They looked at me, then behind me, and seeing that I was the only one not looking behind I felt a bit left out, so I also looked behind me. Yup, that’s a stampede alright, and of giant boars no less, about a kilometer away. They had large tusks protruding from the sides of their mouths, smoke billowing out of their pores, and in their eyes - an intense, immutable fury. The bandits and players hurriedly scrambled, looking for means of escape. All but two of the bandits scattered back into the recesses of the forest. One of the bandits that did not do so was attempting and failing to climb up a tree. The other bandit was the archer already in another tree. The players looked around for what to do, saw me on top of the cargo wagon, and got the same idea I had. They tried to run back to and bound atop of the cargo wagon. By this time the giant boars were far closer, about to overtake us. Two players managed to get on the wagon by this time: a warrior and a mage. The ranger (that wasn't me) was in the midst of climbing up the wagon when the horde reached us. As she was being swept away by the tip of a tusk she shouted, “This is bullshiiii—” I didn’t quite hear the last part since she was quickly too far away and the cacophony of countless gallops eventually drowned out her cry, though I can wager a guess. The other two players not already on the wagon were being trampled to death. I couldn’t catch what they said, they only managed a syllable or two before their faces and or chests were stomped again; it was probably a cry for help, or more expletives. Oh, and the bandit trying to climb the tree, of course, was also trampled to death. And the archer in another tree was unceremoniously shaken out of it from the galloping that I’m sure to him seemed like an earthquake. He was also trampled to death. Watching this go on I could only recall the natural disasters I’ve witnessed, of course, from the safety of a screen. How nature would always be the greatest equalizer. The stampede of centaurs left as quickly as it came. In a few minutes all that was left as a hint of what happened was a few dust clouds, and even those eventually settled down as well, leaving no signs of the mayhem that transpired. If you’re wondering what befell the merchant during all of this, well, all I have to say to that is how he was perfectly fine since he never once left the safety, okay, strike that, the relative safety and comfort of the coach seat of the cargo wagon. Yes, he was perfectly fine. Though out of our party of 6—including me and excluding the merchant—was now reduced to 3. Not bad, all things considered. I mean, it could have been much worse. The surviving warrior hopped down and went to where a dead bandit was, a little bit ahead on the road. The surviving mage hopped down too and went to a different bandit that was off to the side, in the forest. It seems you don’t need to land the killing blow to get loot from a mob, meaning you could have the environment do most of the work and still get your loot. I thought it was a nice convenience for players like myself, still low level and without a skill. I’m not completely sure on how to get one and even less sure about how to execute one. So I turned to the mage; who could be described as the prim and proper type with shoulder length straight hair, respectable and charming glasses, and a face that said I’m too busy so don’t bother me with anything; and asked her, “Hey, how do you do—” “Me? Why I’m well. How about you?” “Oh, um, er, yes, I’m also good. But I meant to ask you how you cast your spells.” “Spell.” “Huh?” “Singular. I only have one spell.” “What?! Only one spell!? But you’re a mage! Isn’t that what, you know, they’re all about?” I was in disbelief. “Hmm, I think so. Nevertheless, I was given only one spell when my avatar was made.” She called out to the warrior; who had short, curly, reddish hair, a greatsword hung on his back, swinging his legs carelessly along the side of the wagon; and asked him, “Hey! How many spells did you start off with?” “Huh? I didn’t start off with any. And I don’t think warriors can learn spells – at least not early on in the game without getting certain sub-classes. My first goal after finishing this quest is to learn a skill. Skills are the same as spells, but instead of magic arts they are physical arts.” I asked him, “And how do we get skills and or spells?” “Not sure. Honestly, I was just gonna pick a direction and continue that way until I found out or got a hint.” The mage girl said, “I think there are four ways to get them: (1) leveling up, (2) learning from an NPC, (3) learning from a book, (4) or figuring one out yourself.” I said,”Figuring it out yourself seems the most fun, though it’s likely also the most time consuming.” We nodded in agreement. I wondered what future this game had in mind for me while looking up at the sky. The other two saw what I was doing, gave me a quizzical look, and looked up at the sky as well. I nudged the mage girl, “Hey, try to shoot down that bird.” “What?” “Up there.” “Not where. Why?” “To see if you can.” “That’s barbaric.” “No, I mean you know how this is a game, right? And you have to wonder how much thought the developers put into the game. You have to know whether or not you can shoot down birds. You know?” “Well, if you put it like that.” The mage girl said a few words I didn’t recognize, made some flicking and swooshing motions with her hand, and fired a magic missile at the bird. The missile soared out rather beautifully, leaving behind an incandescent trail of light and sparkles. The bird seemed to have been enjoying its day - that is until the missile collided with it as if it were struck by lightning. And immediately following it took a nosedive. I couldn’t hear the sound of it hitting the ground, but I like to imagine that it was a good, hearty plop. “Ha!” The warrior guy and I laughed. The mage girl became teary eyed. I said, “I can’t believe you killed that poor, defenseless bird!” “What!? But you were the who told me to do it!” She pointed at me accusingly. “You’re the one that pulled the trigger,” I said in a matter of fact tone. The mage girl growled at me and pouted for much of the rest of the trip.